January 19th is the Eastern Christian feast day of the Theophany (according to the Julian Calender). In Ukraine, it was traditionally celebrated by a procession from the church to a river or stream, where a hole would be cut through the ice and the water would be blessed. Wherever they were in the world, Ukrainians tried to maintain this tradition, even in the extreme conditions of the post-WWII refugee camps.

Today in 1580 the earliest Slavonic Bible printed with movable type was published in the Ukrainian city of Ostroh. Our rare book collection has an Ostroh Bible from the 1581 edition bound in brown leather carved with elaborate floral motifs.